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Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Programme

NOTICE

NOTICE

ECCE 'Grant Funding Agreement' 2016/17 Now Available to Read/Download

The Contracting process for the Department of Children and Youth Affairs (DCYA) Childcare Funding Programmes will begin shortly for the 2016-2017 ‘Programme Call’. The process this year will differ from previous years as it will be carried out by service providers on PIP. Please see the PIP Homepage for a summary of the contracting timeline and 'next steps' for the online contracting process.

You may now download the ECCE 'Grant Funding Agreement' for the 2016/17 Programme Call (As Gaeilge). This will be the document that Primary Authorised Users (those legally responsible for the childcare services) will see on PIP when they are submitting online applications to provide the ECCE Programme.

Please note: Changes to the ECCE Grant Funding Agreement may be made at the discretion of the Department of Children and Youth Affairs. Any such changes will be updated immediately on this webpage with clear notification of the changes made."

Please note: the following text has been added as of 13 July 2016: 5.5 This Agreement shall not affect any other agreements which may already be in place between the Registered Provider and the Grantor/Pobal in respect of capital funding.

NOTICE

Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Programme

The Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Dr Katherine Zappone TD, has introduced a new model to enable children with disabilities to access and fully participate in the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Programme.

NOTICE

The Minister for Children and Youth Affairs recently wrote to all early years service providers in January 2016 advising them to ensure that all of their staff members working directly with children were fully aware of the fact that the new Child Care Regulations (which will be published shortly) will require all such staff to hold a minimum qualification of Level 5 or equivalent by 31st December 2016, and to advise that any unqualified staff members should commence training as soon as possible – availing of the Learner Fund as appropriate. Copies of the letters are here.

The age criteria for the current and coming pre-school year is as follows in relation to the ECCE Programme:

To avail of the ECCE programme with effect from

Children must have been born between the following dates (both dates inclusive)

Qualifications

Minimum ECCE Enrolment Exemptions

In certain circumstances a service may receive an exemption from the minimum number of ECCE children required per session for an ECCE contract. For more information and how to apply please see our information document and application form.

ECCE Higher Capitation for Service Provider

From September 2016 in ECCE services, Higher Capitation will be paid for individual ECCE Sessions where the ECCE Room leader holds a qualification recognised as meeting the minimum contract requirements for ECCE (“Higher Cap”) as set out on the published list of ‘Early Years Recognised Qualifications’, (or must otherwise be deemed eligible by the DCYA), and have a minimum of 3 years’ experience working in the childcare sector. Services that have multiple ECCE sessions, but only one/some with a Room Leader with the necessary higher capitation qualification can avail of higher capitation funding for the part(s) of their service delivered by the ECCE Room leader(s).

The ECCE Higher Capitation rate will be passed on to services up to a total of the number of ECCE children allowed to participate in the qualifying Higher Capitation room based on an aggregate of:
(a) The relevant ‘capacity’ for ECCE-registered children allowable in the session to which the Higher Capitation Room Leader is assigned.
(b) The ECCE staff:child ratio in the session to which the Higher Capitation Room Leader is assigned.

The service should ensure that ECCE-registered children are assigned to the Higher Capitation session for which they are claiming higher capitation funding. The service will receive a rate of capitation up to a ‘full time equivalent’ number of ECCE children. The rate of capitation for which a service will be paid will depend on the full-time equivalent number of ECCE children registered on PIP. This number may change during the pre-school year, depending on the service’s ECCE registration patterns, however ECCE Higher Capitation cannot be claimed for ECCE-Registered children not attending ECCE Sessions led by a Higher Capitation-qualified Room Leader.